The Sly Cooper games is probably the best series for the PS2 that no one really ever plays. Which is unfortunate because Honor Among Thieves is definitly the best one so far.

The game starts out where Sly 2 left off. Sly and Bentley (now wheelchair bound) decide to pull off their most ambitious job yet, getting into Sly's family vault. The vault happens to be on an island now controlled by the crazy scientist Dr. M who has been trying to get into the vault himself. In order to pull off the job they decide that they need to get their friend Murray back into the gang, and that they will also need to expand the gang inorder to pull off this job.

So as the game progresses you travel from exotic location to exotic location. In each location you need to complete various missions that lead up to a larger scale operation that you need to accomplish inorder to get a new member for the gang.

For most of the game you play as either Sly, Bentley or Murray. Sly's missions are usually more stealth and platformer. Bentley's tend to be more puzzle oriented. And Murray's tend to be about destroying things. So just among those three characters there is good variety in missions, and they all have different move sets. But aside from the main three you also have to complete missions with the new gang members, which tend to revolve around the strengths of that character.

The variety of gameplay in the missions is really what makes the game fun, and keeps it from getting stale. There are driving, flying, swimming, shooting, maze, pirating, and lots more mission types. The kinds of missions you get, get more diverse as your gang gets larger.

Like Sly 2 the game isn't very linear. When you arrive at a new location you are given the ability to freely roam the map, and do whatever missions you want, in whatever order. Or you can not do the missions and run around and collect gold from enemies so that you can buy new moves for your characters. Some of the moves are very useful, and some you might not ever use, it really depends on the kind of player you are.

Although gameplay is a big part, what really drives Sly 3 is not just the story, but the voice acting. As the game progresses you really get a great understanding for each character, and you really get attached to them. The story and dialouge is so well written that it really brings life to the characters, and makes them real.

Sly 3 is a great game even if you've never played a Sly Cooper game before. It's a great platformer, that really defies the genre by expanding out and mixing a lot of genres together. I think that this might be the best platform game since Mario 64, and it definitly has a better story then Mario 64 did. I think everyone who owns a PS2 should definitly go out and get this one, and if you have the time pick up the first two Sly games as well. They won't disappoint.